Airport advisory board discusses ongoing projects, meeting locations

The Columbia Regional Airport Advisory Board met Wednesday afternoon in the north terminal conference room to discuss ongoing projects and the new location of future meetings.

The airport manager Don Elliot reviewed two airport projects which are almost complete. The new taxi pavement project will be completed in the next few days after inspection and the new fencing around the runways will be completed in September.

Elliot also brought up the plan for a new project on the 1331 runway. The project idea is to lengthen the runway and pave it with material that can hold more weight. This project will help the airport to bring in more jets since the runway will now be able to hold the weight.

“What we are planning to do in the future is have a longer concrete runways that will be wider, it will be able to handle the weights of the regional jets,” said Elliot.

The project is still in the planning stage but the board hopes to have a plan within the next year. Elliot said he hopes the overall project will be completed in about five years.

Along with airport plans, the board had to discuss a possible new meeting location for these public discussions since the current room is not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“The city of course is very particular about ADA compliancy, we want to be to be in full compliance and so we advised the airport advisory board that they needed to look for a new meeting spot,” said Columbia Public Works spokesperson Steven Sapp.

A previous complaint from a Missouri resident brought this inadequate meeting area to the city’s attention. The board is now making an effort to find a new meeting location that is ADA approved.

Some locations that were mentioned in this meeting were the city hall board rooms, the Boone County Bank, and Sophia’s. Next month’s meeting will still be held in the north terminal conference room again where they will further discuss a permanent and adequate meeting room for the future.